NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



attacks and demolishes great fields of beautiful green 

 lucerne. The army moth caterpillar blasts the veld and 

 crops as by fire. Clouds of migratory locusts in the 

 winged and wingless stages eat up both crops and 

 pasturage. Hundreds of other destructive pests take 

 their unearned share of food which ought to be avail- 

 able for our stock animals. 



We have great ideals, aye ! beautiful dreams of 

 South Africa's fair lands sustaining a population of 

 twice and many times more than its present number. 

 But do we combine and utilise our available resources 

 to bring our ideals to fruition ? No ! we may be 

 aptly compared with the farmer who possesses a 

 hundred fertile acres and only makes use of half a 

 score of them. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has 

 estimated (1921) that insects damage the nation's 

 crops to the vast extent of 2,000,000,000 dollars 

 annually. The Entomological Branch of the Canadian 

 Department of Agriculture say that insects cause 

 a loss of at least £25,000,000 to their country. 



When will man cease to slay his feathered soldiers 

 and policemen ? The injustice, the brutality, the 

 stupidity of his action in destroying his feathered friends 

 and allies is inexcusable. There is no excuse for 

 ignorance. Ornithologists and entomologists have 

 raised their voices in protest, but they are heeded not. 

 Men turn a deaf ear and continue to pursue the 

 methods of their uninformed ancestors. The men 

 who retard human progress most seriously are those 

 who are ignorant of their ignorance. What is urgently 



